Table tennis racket



May 2, 1939.

A. M. KELLER T ABLE TENNIS RACKET Filed NO 19, 1937 Fig. 2.

Fig:

Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application November 19, 1937, Serial No. 175,530 In Austria January 14, 1937 2 Claims.

This invention relates to table tennis or Pingpong rackets.

Tabletennis rackets usually consist of wooden paddles which may be plain surfaced, or may a be coated with rubber or cork. Rubber coatings normally are provided with slight projections which enable the ball to be cut when struck by the racket. These projections have been cemented to the wooden surface of the racket, and

have also been formed by means of rubber strips contacting, but unsecured to the surface of the racket. As the "cut given the ball depends upon the resiliency of the rubber projections, it is desirable to develop this resiliency as much as possible.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a very resilient covering for the surface of a table tennis racket.

A further object of my invention is to provide a resilient surface composed of rubber bands spaced from the surface of the racket.

A still further object of my invention is to construct a table tennis racket which will provide a cushioned stop for a light ball, as well as enabling the ball to be cut" when struck by the racket.

These objects are obtained generally by providing a raised edge about the periphery of a Ping-pong racket, over which edge rubber strips are stretched, which strips are spaced from the surface of the racket by the thickness of the raised edge. Thus a struck ball will receive the resilient force of the stretched bands and will not only be cushioned to a stop, but will be provided with a "cut" greater than that obtained by rackets heretofore known to the art.

The drawing illustrates a form of my invention in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of my Ping-pong racket. 1 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of Fig.

i an

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The face of the racket i is provided with an 45 edging 2, said e n extending above said face. Notches I are formed in the edge of the racket, and rubber strips, or rubben bands, and are strung across the face of the racket, said strips or bands being held in position by notches 3.

It is to be noted that notches 8 extend but partially through the edging 2, and therefore thcbandsarespacedfromthefaceoftheracket I by the thickness of said edging. These bands may extend preferably across both faces of the racket I, and may be arranged to form the network shown in the drawing, or in any other desired form of network. When rubber bands are 5 used, they may be stretched between notches lying on opposite edges of the racket, and thus each band provides an elastic member for each of the two faces of the racket.

The edging 2 may be formed of leather, or 10 any other desirable material. As in the structure illustrated, two separate strips, one for each face of the racket may be used. It is apparent, however, that any construction which spaces the elastic members from the face of the racket 15 would be satisfactory.

The network of elastic members provides a resilient cushioning surface when the racket contacts a ball. Thus the elastic members will give under the impact of a ball, and when the ball receives a blow from the face i, the elastic members have a gripping action upon the surface of the ball, and accordingly allow the ball to be sharply cut. Sharply played balls can be easily and positively stopped and can be satisfactorily cut by simply turning the racket.

I claim:

1. A table tennis racket comprising a member having oppositely disposed surfaces each of which forms a substantially flat rigid striking face, raised edgings secured to the periphery of each face, a plurality of notches in the periphery of said face and edgings, and a plurality of rubber bands each of which engages a pair of notches, disposed across each face and edging of, and spaced by the thickness of said edging from the face of, said racket to form an elastic network capable of yieldably engaging the surface of a ball, whereby said ball can be struck by said face while said rubber bands engage the adjacent 40 side surfaces of said ball to control the "cut of said ball.

2. A table tennis racket comprising a member having a substantially flat face, a plurality of closely spaced rubber bands stretched across said face, and a raised edging around said face holding said bands in a plane spaced from and parallel to said face, whereby a ball can be struck by said face while said rubber bands engage the adjacent surface of said ball to control the "cut" so of said ball.

ANTON H. mm. 

